Day 3 of Our 25th Anniversary Challenge

8th June 2017

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Day 3 of Our 25th Anniversary Challenge

Day 3 started bright, sunny and particularly warm. I decided to put some air in Candice’s tyres in the hope she may go faster and everyone was praying for an easier day. The plan was to head south to the town of Beauvais, some 64 miles away. As the morning dragged on the temperature shot up. We were all constantly sucking on our water bottles. Thankfully Huey’s bike felt the need to breakdown a few times in the morning so we had plenty of opportunity. Huey is a 61 year old, South London Carpenter, whose passion for fair play and understanding was developed as a fan of Millwall FC. His passion for Millwall was equally matched by the Crystal Palace loving Vivienne, who rode all the way to Paris wearing her “south London & Proud” Crystal Palace shirt. God only knows what the local inhabitants thought as we trundled through their sleepy villages.

One of the things that struck me on our journey is just how big France is compared to the UK. We would ride for hours through farmland without seeing a car or another human being. At times, it felt like I was in one of those horror movies where everyone on the planet had died. These large areas of country side were only punctuated by small hamlets and villages and even then you didn’t see a soul.

At this point the ever cheerful Nick started to mention a few “kickers for the tickers” were coming up. Needless to say he didn’t disappoint. It felt like we just spent the day climbing hills. The pain was made worse thanks to an error on Nick’s satnav which added a few more hills and miles to our journey. The bright point of the day, thanks to having some air in her tyres (a basic requirement of any cyclist) Candice was finding the terrain a lot easier. Candice hates cycling and had already informed the group that once she reached Paris she would never sit on a bike again. Or as she put it, she was looking forward to “LAB” life after biking. To her credit, for someone who has such a dislike for this particular sport, she had trained hard and was more than holding her own against more experienced riders.

One of the problems of cycling this type of distance are your feet. You put so much pressure through them, for such a long period of time that they feel like they are going to explode. Relief can only be found by removing ones cycle shoes and waiting for the blood to rush back into your toes. I only mention this now, as for everyplace we stopped for lunch, I would stomp around town in my socks looking a complete madman. I apologies to the local in habitants who often gave me a look which suggested that I needed to be locked up.